U.S. Keeps Security Response to London Attacks Low-Key: No Intelligence Suggests Such Bombings Are Planned

By Dan Eggen, Washington Post Staff Writer, Saturday, August 6, 2005; Page A16

In the month since the first bombings of London's transit system, the British prime minister has unveiled extensive new anti-terrorism laws while security agencies have carried out what is widely described as their largest mobilization since World War II.
Across the Atlantic, the response has been far more restrained, with few signs of increased U.S. readiness except in major transit systems.
The difference is certainly due in large part to the fact that the United Kingdom, not the United States, was the target in two attacks last month. But the quieter mood also reflects a growing recognition among U.S. counterterrorism officials and the public that it is exceedingly difficult to thwart plots like those in Britain, which were apparently carried out by isolated terrorist cells with raw materials that could be obtained at a beauty shop or supermarket, according to U.S. government officials and terrorism experts.